Vigil held for Southgate student who shot himself

SOUTHGATE — Nick Sawicki saw his best friend, Tyler Nichols, in the hallway just before classes began Thursday morning.

They were planning to hang out this weekend, but Tyler canceled.

Nick, 14, asked why.

“He said, ‘You’ll see after first hour.’”

That was at about 8 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, eighth-grader Tyler, 13, left class, went into a bathroom on the second floor and used a .40- caliber Glock handgun to shoot himself once in the head.

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He was transported to Oakwood Southshore Medical Center in Trenton, where he was pronounced dead.

Nick’s father, John Sawicki, 45, said Nick is heartbroken.

“This is really his first time that suicide has hit close to him and those are really hard to take,” John Sawicki said Thursday night at a candlelight vigil for Tyler. “Can’t make sense of it. He knew he was having some issues, but nothing like that.”

With his head down and his coat’s hood covering his head, Nick spoke slowly and quietly in front of Anderson High School as hundreds of people came out in freezing weather to show their support.

“He was cool,” Nick said of Tyler. “He was a peacemaker. We were always there for each other. … He would give you the shirt off his back. He was a good kid.”

Nick said Tyler told him he had problems at home but didn’t give any indication of what he was planning. The Friday before, Tyler told him he was given the gun by a family member, Nick said, but it was locked in a safe.

Police, school district administrators and the community alike are working to cope with what happened while at the same time looking for answers.

Why would Tyler, described by classmates and friends as a normal, happy boy who was liked by all, take his life?

At a Thursday morning press conference, authorities had few answers. They detailed what happened, but did not know where the gun came from or why Tyler killed himself.

Later that day, police said the gun was obtained via a family member, but Public Safety Director Thomas Coombs declined to say from whom. It is legally registered, but it was not properly secured, Coombs said.

Other friends and classmates of Tyler’s at the vigil Thursday echoed Nick, Coombs and school Supt. William Grusecki, who all said the boy’s suicide was not the result of being bullied.

Like others, Noah Galloway, 13, an eighth-grader at Davidson, said he was shocked when he heard.

“My mind went blank because I didn’t think he would do anything like that,” Noah said.

When asked if Tyler was bullied, Noah said: “Never. He was never bullied.”

Grusecki said Friday he hadn’t slept much Thursday night, unable to shake the image of the bathroom where Tyler took his life.

“Just waking up in the middle of the night with that vision in my mind,” he said.

He saw the scene after responders removed the boy’s body. A couple of staff members were inside with Tyler just after it happened.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with that family and we hope that everybody can get through this,” Grusecki said.

Tyler left a note, which wasn’t discovered until after he arrived at Southshore. Coombs at first said it was a suicide note with a goodbye addressed to a particular student. After looking at it, however, he said Friday it was “an open letter to anyone who read it.”

“He was dealing with the issues that a 13-year-old deals with and his solution to it was suicide rather than speaking with someone,” Coombs said of the note’s contents.

A group of boys from Davidson, all of whom knew Tyler, stood on the driveway in front of Anderson High School at the vigil. Donna Vallar, a cashier who works in the cafeteria at Davidson, was with them.

Her initial reaction was one of shock and horror, she said.

“I felt bad for his family and you wonder what possibly could have made a 13-year-old want to take his life,” Vallar said. “It was tragic.

“You worry about everybody’s safety and the emotions and how they’re going to continue on to school and not think about that, and how it affects them.”

One of those students, Issaic Allard, said he had known Tyler since elementary school.

When students heard the gunshot, most thought nothing of it, that it was a desk crashing or a maintenance worker fixing something.

Issaic was walking to the library when he heard it.

“I thought it was a regular noise, something loud, like something falling,” he said. “Didn’t know what it was, then soon to find out we were in lockdown.

“I was so shocked; I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to think.”

After the gunshot, an administrator made an announcement over the public address system, saying a male student was missing and for teachers to inform the office if he was from their class, said eighth-grader Gabby Collette, 14.

Students were told to remain in their classrooms and then the lockdown was in effect.

Between 9 and 10 a.m., eighth-graders were taken to the auditorium and ninth-graders were sent to the gym as staffers began calling parents to let them know they could pick up their children.

Davidson, which houses grades eight and nine, has about 800 students. Beginning next year, grades six through eight will attend classes there.

Alec Chirillo, also an eighth-grader at Davidson, walked home with Tyler on Wednesday. They were “pretty good” friends, he said, and had second-hour science class together

“He was making jokes, being normal,” Alec, 14, said. “Nothing seemed to be bugging him.”

Many people said Tyler had family problems, but they never heard him talk about it. They said he was funny, popular and had plenty of friends.

He was a private person who will be missed, said Chelsea Martinez, 14.